Biography
In 1 November 1795, Louise Charlotte was engaged to King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden. The engagement was arranged by Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm, the de facto regent of Sweden, who wished to keep his influence after the monarch were declared of legal majority by having a queen indebted to him for her position. The king himself was initially positive; the engagement was celebrated in the courts of Sweden and Mecklenburg and Louise Charlotte was mentioned in the official church prayer in Sweden. Empress Catherine the Great, however, wished her grand daughter Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia to be Queen of Sweden, and displayed dislike of the engagement. Upon this many people told the king that Louise Charlotte, whom he had not seen, was not beautiful. When the king was declared of legal majority in 1797, he broke off the engagement. Her father demanded compensation. In 1803, the matter was settled when the Swedish city of Wismar in Germany was turned over to Mecklenburg-Schwerin by a treaty in Malmö.
On 21 October 1797 in Ludwigslust, she married Augustus, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, who came from the same family as her mother. Their common ancestor was Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1676–1732). The marriage was arranged against her will and became unhappy: her spouse abused her and she wished to leave him, but was forced by her family to stay. She was described as very blond, not attractive, somewhat hunchbacked but also as witty, talented, cultivated and with a pleasant manner, though more open than what was regarded as an ideal for the period.
Louise Charlotte died four years later in childbirth at the age of 22, before Augustus assumed the throne of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. They had only one daughter: Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, who would marry Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and become mother to Prince Albert, prince consort of Queen Victoria.
Read more about this topic: Duchess Louise Charlotte Of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
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